


Life is Art

by Avalon1632



Category: Ib (Video Game), Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 02:36:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13157451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avalon1632/pseuds/Avalon1632
Summary: Picasso once said that all you can imagine is real. When Vanessa and Ryan Caulfield take Chloe and Max out to visit the Chase Space for a gallery exhibition for the works of Mark Jefferson, Chloe and Max learn just how well that saying holds. Inspired by the RPG-Maker game Ib. If you’re a horror or puzzle game fan, I thoroughly recommend it.





	Life is Art

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter I: Enter the Gallery (Chloe)  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> AN:  
> Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!
> 
> This one is based on one of my favourite horror games ever, Ib. It's the story of a kid who goes to a gallery one day and gets pulled into an alternate horror universe filled with the works of an artist called Guertana. If you haven't played it and you're into horror games, I HIGHLY recommend you do. It's a little RPG maker thing, but it's really, really well done. It's a game with multiple endings too, so #ReplayValue. :D
> 
> This story is set pre-Max Leaving, so Max and Chloe are like, tweenagers. I have literally no memory of being a tweenager, and I don't spend any time around children, so writing them as that age was never gonna happen well, hence why Chloe speaks nothing like a kid half the time. Also, since this is pre-Rachel, she doesn't say 'hella', and I've had to stop myself writing it and edit it out after writing it so many times in this chapter.
> 
> Oh, and a final question. If you had a time machine, about the size of an Iphone, that could take you 30,000 years into the past or the future, where would you go? I've got a time travel story planned, and I'm curious if y'all would like to see anything particular.
> 
> Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.
> 
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uargh." I groan. "Are we fucking there yet?"

"Chloe! Language!" Max's mom glares at me from the front passenger seat.

I shrug sheepishly. "Sorry Mrs C, but are we?"

"I have no idea. Ryan?"

Ryan shrugs. "Dunno, maybe. Where are we going again?"

I snort, and Vanessa rolls her eyes. "The couch tonight, if you don't answer my question already."

"Yes ma'am. Judging by the truly terrible modern art over there," He points to a weird, metallic statue that looks kind of like if a slinky had a seriously bad day and got one of those grinning dog statues jammed up it's- "we're here. Galleries have weird modern art outside, right?"

Vanessa flashes him (Flashes? Ew, wrong word, wrong word!)... gives him a withering look, then grins back at us. "He's a detective, you know!"

Mrs C was the only adult I knew who could use sarcasm as well as me.

Ryan parks up outside the gallery and we all climb (Max), fall (me), gracefully exit (Momma C), and just sorta stagger (Ryan) out of the car and up to the door. I can almost feel Max vibrating next to me she's so excited. I don't even think before I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down. It's just one of the things we do.

When Mr and Mrs C finally rock up to the door with us, we all head in. Max gasps as she takes in the frankly unimpressive inside. It's all metal and marble and modernist shit that I really don't get. The only thing that broke up the operating room vibe was a big, fancy-looking old portrait of a tall, thin blonde girl standing next to a fireplace. From the look on her face, I was pretty sure art bored her as much as it bored me.

Max's folks walk over to the main desk and ask for some leaflets and guidebooks and the pretentious douche in a suit behind it hands them a little book with a condescending sneer and an "Enjoy your visit." that sounds like he wants us to do literally anything else. Like go away and stop getting our interest all over his precious artwork.

Asshole.

Max finally speaks up after her parents take too long thinking over the guidebook (Like, seriously, how long does it take to pick a direction? We're gonna see all this shit anyway, so it's not like it matters.) and begs them to let her go check out Jefferson's exhibition already.

They share a look, a smile, and shrug. "Sure, Max. Just be careful!" They yell after her as she dashes off for the stairs. Mrs C grins at me. "I don't even have to ask if you'll keep an eye on her, do I?"

I shrug, "Always do, Mrs C.".

She smiles. "Good. Now, try not to 'cause too much noise. We don't want to get kicked out of the gallery before Max has seen everything."

I snort, "Yes, Mrs C." and head off after Max, hands in my pockets.

\--

"Oh my dog," Max chirps. "Have you seen this picture?" I look over to see her staring at this... wait. What the fuck is that? I tilt my head, trying to see... Huh. Okay. It's an upside down dude.

Or maybe a Llama?

Nope. I think it's a bird.

I know I'm not an artist or whatever, but I know art is supposed to represent shit. What the fuck is an upside down bird-llama dude supposed to represent?

But, Max is beaming at it, and me, expecting an answer, so I grin. "Super cool, dude."

She grins back. "Isn't it? It shows-"

I try listen, I really do, but... I kinda tune out. When Max gets all photographer, I never have any idea what she's talking about. It's seriously cute though.

I drift off slightly, just grinning at her excited face, until she pulls me out of it, grabbing my hand with an excitable "Chlo, Chlo, have you seen this one?" She drags me over to a black and white photo of an untidy bedroom with a load of psychedelic swirls over it. She says something about it using photo-warping to make an abstract representation of the chaos of modern life. Or something. Like I said, I don't know shit about this stuff.

"Yeah, I saw it. I totally took that one." I state, face and voice as serious as I could make 'em.

She smirks at me. "You did?" She asks, playing along, like always.

"Yeah." I nod. "I used the ancient florping technique of Brobdingnag to really emphasise the clutter and shit in the picture." I bullshit what I'm pretty sure is a masterful artsy explanation of 'my' amazing photo and Max ooohs and aaahs the whole time. Finally, I throw out my arms and say "And I call it, Max Caulfield."

She blinks. "Chloe, why are you naming the photo after me?"

"'Cause it's a mess, just like you."

She giggles, before dragging me off to yet another weird-ass picture.

Two pictures later, I notice that her enthusiastic babble has stopped. I look around. Max was nowhere in sight. Shit. "Max?!" I yell. "Max!?!" People around me start to give me the annoyed asshole eye, but I ignore them as I push through the crowd to find her. "Max? Where the fuck are you?"

She finally calls back "Over here, Chlo!" I push over in the direction of her voice to find her standing, awestruck, off on her own in front of a massive photo of the New York skyline. I take a sec to blink at it in amazement before I storm over to Max and poke her, hard.

She barely flinches. "Have you seen this, Chloe? It's totally amazing!"

I sigh. "Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you, y'know, let me know if you're gonna run off? I thought I was gonna have a fucking heart attack."

She tilts her head at me, big puzzled eyes blinking at me. "Huh? I did, didn't I?"

"Uh. No, dude. You didn't."

"Oh." Her shoulders slump. "Sorry Chlo."

I let it go. "So, what the hell is this thing anyway?"

"It's New York! It's where all these photo's were taken. Isn't it realistic? I think it's printed on aluminum (AN1). Doesn't it just make you wanna reach out and-" Before I can stop her, she puts her hand on the damn photo. "touch it..."

The gallery lights flicker suddenly, then go out completely, and we both whirl. "What was that?"

I snort, "Guess the fancy gallery can't afford the good lights." and it sounds forced, even to me.

We turn back around to look at the photo and... huh. There's a stain on it. Some kinda blue inky stuff. Max frowns at it. "That's developing fluid. Where'd that come from?"

As we're staring at it, it forms into words.

'Max. Chloe. Go down below. I'll show you something amazing.'

We both stare at them. "Uh, Max?"

"Yeah, Chlo?"

"You saw that, right? The developing whatever, y'know, moving?"

"Yeah, Chlo."

"Alright. Not crazy then."

"No, Chlo."

"Cool. So, we guess we're going down below?" I snort. "Thought a chick with magic'd be able to get someone to fuck her way easier than this."

Max's face creases in adorable confusion. "What?"

"She wants us to 'go down below', Max." I waggle my eyebrows, grinning when Max finally gets it and blushes. Aww. "Well, come on then. Let's go check 'em out." I take her hand and give her my best reassuring smile, feeling proud when she smiles back.

We creep downstairs through the dark gallery, and all those weird pictures suddenly look so much creepier. Nobody else was around, and the place was almost eerily silent. Max squeaks a little when she sees the empty reception, and I have to swallow a groan of my own. (Heh, rhymes). Max's folks are like my second parents, so it was kinda hard not to freak when I saw that they'd gotten caught in whatever the fuck this was.

I quickly pull Max through into the next room, and we end up looking down onto a top-down photo of a pool of water. There's a boat-side on one edge of the picture, so I guess it's a harbour? There's a railing around it, but someone's taken one part of it down. In the gap, a few footprints go up to it, then suddenly stop at the edge.

"I, uh... I guess we've gotta take the leap?"

Max shrugs, still looking distantly back at the door to the reception. I poke her. "Come on, Maxie. You always said you wanted to try out-dive me, right?" She finally looks at the picture, but she doesn't smile.

Fuck it. Best I got right now.

We walk over to the picture, and follow the footprints until we're standing right at the edge. "Ready?"

Max nods.

I wonder for a sec if indulging the weird horny magic person is the best plan.

Fuck it. Best I got right now.

We jump.

Our feet touch... go through the photo.

Everything goes black.

\--

I sit up. Huh. Apparently the inside of a harbour painting looks kinda like a corridor from my primary school. Weird. I look around the corridor for Max.

Fuck.

"Max!?" I yell, and my voice echoes off the walls.

I pull myself to my feet and look around. Shit. No Max. So, I picked a direction, and started walking. I walk for what feels like hours, but could've been five minutes, until I come across a table in the middle of the corridor.

It wasn't anything weird, or special, just a table. It had a vase on it, with one blue rose in. The vase had no water in it, but the flower still looked alive. I shrug, and Pick it up.

Huh. Just a flower. I reach out to put it back, and my arm freezes just before I can drop it. My heart beats slower for a few seconds, and my eyes fill with blue light (exact same damn colour as the flower), and I get the idea I should definitely look after the fucking flower. I tuck it into the inside of my jacket. It's not like I can carry it, what if I drop the thing?

I carry on a little bit further until I hit the end of the corridor. There's one small blue door in the end, and I figure Blue Flower, Blue Door, totally telling me where to go. So, I stride over, and I try the door.

Fuck.

Locked.

Max must've gone the other way. Of-fucking-course I go the wrong fucking direction. Damnit Chloe. I turn around and... huh. I'm back where I woke up. Great. Magic-Person is fucking with space. I sigh and, just in case magic-chick is listening, say "Hey, could you help me find Max? It's kinda my job to keep her out of trouble, but this whole going down thing is making it kind of difficult."

Nothing.

Of course.

I start walking. This time (at about the same distance, I guess), I find another vase. This one also had no water. The flower was already gone though. Fuck. Max took one of the weird pain flowers.

I really hope she didn't drop it.

Nope. Not thinking about that. I am gonna find her, and she is gonna be fine.

I keep going, and find a red door at the end of the hall. I quickly run over and try it, grinning when it opens. I thank whatever might be listening that it wasn't locked and hurry through straight into... Damnit. It's just a room, with a really crappy photo of some young chick in a dress on the wall, and an empty table in the middle of it. My good fucking mood disappears immediately. No Max, no way forward.

Fucking goddamnit! I whirl and punch the wall as I hard as I can. How could I have let this shit happen? I let my head fall until its resting on the wall.

"Ahem." A prim little voice coughs from behind me.

I flip around so my back was against the wall. "Who's-"

That's as far as I get. My mouth drops open and I stare at the photo. "Y-you..."

The chick in the picture smiles. "Me, dear?"

I take a deep breath. "You talk?"

She shrugs, like it's no big deal that a fucking photo can talk. "Ever since I was developed."

Since she was... huh, okay. "So, uh..." I rub the back of my neck, feeling totally awkward. "Do you have, like, a name or something?"

"The Lady in Red." She says, waving a hand idly down toward her dress.

Which was red. Obviously. Be kind of a stupid name if it wasn't.

"Oh. Um. Hi, then. I'm Chloe." -and I'm talking to a photo. This day is getting weirder and weirder. "Have you seen my friend Max? Short as shit, cute freckles, wide eyes, camera bag?"

The Lady shakes her head. "I'm afraid not, Chloe. You're the only person I've seen in a very long time."

"Fuck."

"Indeed."

An idea pops into my head. "So, uh, do you know how I get through the other door? The blue one, back" I thumb over my shoulder "that way?"

The Lady nods. "I do. In fact," She moves in her picture, and I grin when I see what she's shown me. Her picture was of a pebbly-beach with some mountainey-hills in the background. The Lady was standing in front of a boat and when she moved I saw that, sitting right on the side of it, was a blue-metal key.

I grin. "Awesome! Can I have the key? Uh, please?"

The Lady shakes her head. "I'm afraid not, Chloe. The key is my charge, and I am loath to part with it."

I blink. I dunno what the last part was, but I'm pretty sure that was a no. Fuck. "Uh, why?"

"It is part of my picture and one cannot compromise one's art for anything." She gives me a haughty sniff and steps back in front of the key.

I start talking again before I even think about what I'm saying. I had no idea where the words were coming from, but they just sorta... came. "I get it, I mean, you are a pretty cool picture," The Lady tilts her head in thanks. "but don't you think you could be better if you stood over there?" I point to the right of her picture, closer to the water. "You'd catch the light way better."

She frowns. "That is not what my artist envisioned, Chloe."

I shrug. "Sure, but that doesn't mean changing is bad. You've heard of editing, right? Plus, you can totally just go back to where you are now if you don't like it."

The Lady nods thoughtfully, and I mentally fistpump. Fuckin' A, I am made of awesome. "You might be right. Very well, let us try. You will let me know if it looks better?"

I nod enthusiastically. "Yeah! My mom always said I had a good eye for this stuff."

The Lady turns and walks over to the side of the room I pointed to. Before she can turn around, I dart forward and grab at the table. When I feel metal in my hand, my grin gets bigger. Yes! I was right!

When I pull it back, the Lady whirls on me, blonde hair flying about like she's in a hurricane, and her eyes go completely red. She screams "THIIIIIIEEEEEFFF!" and it's loud and fucking painful; my ears ring and I swear my eyes start to bleed a bit.

I chance a look back as I reach the doorway and my mouth drops open as I see her sort of... pushing her way out of the picture. It looks like a face trying to push through cellophane, or a baby lamb being born, and she was screaming in anger the entire time.

It was only me being a total badass that stopped me from screaming and running away like a little girl.

Yeah, that was a total lie. I freaked out and ran like hell for the other door the second I saw her. I slammed into it at first, almost bouncing off it I was running so fast. I fumble with the key and try jam it into the lock, swearing when I drop it. If I wasn't so scared, I'd have snorted. I always gave movie actresses shit for doing this whenever they were running away from monsters.

Another scream from behind me (pants-shittingly close behind me) pushes me to be faster, and I grab the key and push it into the lock. I open the door and slam it closed behind me just in ti-

Or not.

The Lady manages to get one of her freakishly long arms jammed into the door and her nails scratch bits out of it I try slam it down on her arm. She screams again and shoves at the door, pushing it open far enough for her to take a fucking swing at me with her arm. Fortunately for my leg, she couldn't see around the door, so her sharp-af nails woosh past my leg. She swings at me a few times, getting more and more fuckin' frantic with each one, but de nada. I'm a goddamn badass and she misses every time.

Okay, so she got way closer to me than I was a fan of more than a couple times, but still.

Badass.

An idea pops into my head and I start slamming my foot down onto her arm, again, and again, and again. Every time, the bitch squeals in pain, and I grin, knowing that I got her. I slam my foot down over her wrist, pinning it underneath the bridge bit of my boot. She wriggles about, but I got bitchin' leg muscles, so she's not going anywhere. I pull back the door and start slamming it on her arm, putting my shoulder into each hit to give it as much force as my weak fourteen-year-old ass could manage.

I lose count by the time the arm starts to crack, and suddenly the entire thing just... snaps and the broken bit of it still attached to her (like, nothing apart from her bicep) disappears back behind the door, and I slam it shut with a grin of victory. Yes! I am totally made out of awesome.

I turn around to find out where the hell I am now.

\--

"Max!" I rush over and throw my arms around the little hobbit, grinning as she hugs me back. "I was so fucking worried, you little punk. Why the fuck did you run off?"

She buries her face in my shoulder, so I only barely catch her muffled "Language, Chloe!"

I snort. "Yeah, yeah, Mom. Swearing is totally allowed on the SS Pricefield."

She pulls back and eyes me imperiously. "Are you forgetting who's the Captain, first mate Price? It's my decision, and I say no swearing!"

"Welp." I shrug. "Guess it's time for a fuckin' mutiny."

She laughs, and buries her face back in my shoulder. "Where are we, Chlo?"

"I have no fuckin' idea. But the photos here are killer. Did you see the one back in the corridor?"

She nods in recognition. "The Lady in Red! She's one of Jefferson's pictures."

"Yeah. That bitch tried to kill me."

She blinks. "Are you okay?" Her eyes quickly go down and back up me in concern. I grin, pretty sure she's not gonna find the gaping wound she's looking for.

I shrug, like I get attacked by artwork every day. "Sure. I kicked her ass."

She giggles. "Totes you did, Chlo."

"I did!" I say, indignant. Why does no-one ever believe me when I tell them I'm a badass? "Ripped off her arm and everything. Want me to go back and get it? We can use it as, like, a back-scratcher or something."

She shakes her head. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass."

"Ahem." Another prim, little voice comes from behind us, and I whirl, putting Max behind me.

"Who the fuck's there?" I yell, when I don't see anyone who the voice could've belonged to.

The voice "Ahem"s again. "Down here, miss Chloe."

I look down to see an ant, about the size of a hamster, sitting on the floor, staring up at me. It had those weird morpheus glasses perched on the end of its nose (AN: Pince Nez, if you were wondering) and was frowning at me like the librarian from School.  
"Um. Hi?"

The ant didn't have eyebrows, but if it did, one of 'em would be up right now. "Hi." It says back.

"So, uh. What's your name?"

"Tony."

Seriously? I grin. "Oh, like an-"

It puts up a claw. "Don't." The glare it gives me over its glasses is almost as cute as when Max tries to put her foot down.

I smirk. "Okay, okay. Sorry dude. So, uh..." I rub the back of my neck again. Not sure which was weirder, talking to a portrait, or an ant. "Are you gonna try kill us or anything?"

The ant(tony)'s shoulders sag. "No. I'm far too sad."

Max leans in. "He's looking for his picture. He hasn't seen it in forever! Isn't that sad, Chloe?"

"Totally. Want us to help you find it, dude?"

The ant shrugs, somehow. Didn't even think that was possible. Pretty sure my biology teacher said ants didn't have shoulders. Eh, whatever. "If you found it, I'd be very grateful."

"Sure thing. And if we find it, will you help us get out of here?"

Tony shrugs again, mutters "Sure", then pulls out a tiny newspaper and ignores us both.

Oookay. So, what now? I take a look around, checking for new ways out. And scary photographic women. De nada for the second, but we had two different ways to go, one to the right of the door (the corridor had a lot of weird animal photos on it. None of an ant though. Shit can't ever be easy, can it?), and the other one straight ahead from it (that way does look kinda... dark...).

I'm about to pick a direction at random when I remember something important. "Oh, shit!" I reach into my coat and pull out the rose. "Max, did you get one of these?"

She nods, pulling hers out of her little messenger camera bag thing. Huh. Apparently they don't need skin contact. Maybe just if you deliberately intend on leaving it? "Yeah! I found it in a vase where we woke up. Isn't it pretty?"

I try smile, but it definitely comes out as a grimace. "Yeah, Max, they are, just... don't drop them."

She frowns. "Why not?"

"It hurts like shit."

"Oh." She says, suddenly looking smaller and far more scared as she blinks down at the rose. "Okay." She puts it back in her bag, way more carefully this time.

"Cool. Now, where do you wanna go?"

Max looks down the dark way, then the animal pictures way, and points to the second one. "That way. The other way looks sort of... creepy."

I shrug. "Wuss. Come on then." I walk off down the corridor before she can say anything, but I know she's got one of her cute affronted little glares all over her face.

But, she skitters after me, her tiny legs having to make two steps for every one I do. Not that it makes any difference to 'ole Maxie. I'm breathing deeper after ten steps, she's not even red-faced. I really need to start exercising or something. If my metabol-wotsit (metabolognese? metaboloney? Huh. Straight to the food, huh Price? Might've got an idea of why I get out of breath so quickly...) ever slows down, I'm so screwed.

My shoulders sag when we hit the end of the corridor and find a giant fucking crack in the floor. I might be able to jump it, but Max definitely can't. Shit. "We can't get over this."

Max shrugs. "So we go the creepy way. It'll be okay."

It wasn't.

The second we stepped into the other corridor it just... oh god. It was so dark, and so, so fucking cold. I knew Max was right next to me, but I just felt so... alone, like everything that made life worth living and shit worth doing was just... gone (AN: #Foreshadowing). I started walking forwards, but my feet felt like they had weights tied to them, and even walking just... wasn't worth it.

My legs started to go numb with the effort of moving and I stumbled, reaching out for the wall.

The wall reached back.

I feel the long, cold fingers just barely touching my skin. I flinch back just in time as nails start to fucking dig into me, getting some seriously badass wounds out of the deal (and a shitload of fuckin' ow), but managing not to get grabbed by a fucking wall. That would just be embarrassing. I didn't wanna think about what'd happen if it got to pull me all the way in. Shit.

Max squeaked as another hand reached out for her, so I yanked her closer to me and started walking again. Somehow, concentrating on protecting her kept the weird cold, empty feeling out, so I managed to get us both all the way to the other end of the corridor.

When we got there, and the cold suddenly disappeared, we both stumbled, ending up in a pile on the floor. Max giggles, shoving at my foot that ended up in her face. "Gross, Chlo!"

I snort and rub my toes over her nose, getting an even bigger giggle out of her. Glad she's doing okay. I still... that feeling was just... No, Price. Don't think about it. I pull myself up and dust myself off, then offer Max two hands and drag her up to her feet. Didn't have to drag far, but still. I take a look around. The place splits off into a T-Junction, one way to our left, the other way to our right. Both ways lead to a green door.

I wave Max over to try the left, and I take the right. Mine was locked, but hers wasn't (she grins delighted back at me when she finds out, and I have to hiss back at her to stop her from immediately opening the damn thing) so I start to walk back when...

Oh shit.

My legs go out from under me when a hand grabs my ankle and yanks. I hit the floor with a thud, and nails dig into my shin. I scream in pain, desperately trying to drag myself away from the hand, but it had a seriously strong grip. So, since flight didn't work, I turn to fight. I start clawing at the arm, trying to get it off me (I'd seen movies. Trying to pry someone's fingers off you never fuckin' works. Always go for the arms. Or the eyes. But since the wall didn't have eyes, I'd have to stick with the arms... Wait... It didn't actually have eyes, did it?), feeling the cold start to sink in under my nails every time I dug into it. I felt something there when I scratched the arm, like I should've got bits of skin or whatever under my nails, but I never got anything under them except the cold.

The wall screamed and shook about like jello in an earthquake, and a couple more arms came out of the wall to grab me. I managed to dodge one, but the other dug into my other shin and tore a huge fucking cut in my leg. I scream in pain again (and probably a shitload of anger. Seriously? I thought art galleries were supposed to be dry and boring bullshit, not whatever this was.) and kick out with my leg as blue light fills my eyes again. It disappears quickly, but it's enough to distract me from kicking.

I don't think I hurt the wall, but the hand loosens its grip just enough for me to slip out and shuffle back on my ass as far away from that fucking corridor as I can. I don't stop until I hit the opposite wall. Max drops down next to me, looking down at my leg in tears "Chloe! Are you okay? Does it hurt? Let me see!" I let her talk for a while as I breath, trying to calm down. I can still hear blood pumping in my ears, and my breaths were coming way faster.

"Max." I try, but she doesn't stop talking in a panic, she doesn't even look up from my leg. I try again. "Max!"

She blinks up at me after that. "Um, sorry. What? It looks so bad, Chloe."

I snort, gritting my teeth against the pain. I try to make it look like a grin, but Max's face doesn't change from worried, so I don't think I succeeded. "I'm fine, Max. Just, help me up. We can't stay here."

She nods reluctantly and moves up to my side, putting my arm over her shoulders. "Okay, on three. I'm gonna lift with the other leg, and use you like a crutch for my other one, okay?" I laugh. "You're short enough for it, so..." I joke, trying to distract her from what I knew was gonna happen. I'd hurt my leg like this before when I fell off my 'board, and it was never fun.

She smiles at me, but she's obviously not convinced. So, fuck it. "One, two... three." I push up with my uninjured leg, whining when pain from my shin shoots up my whole leg. Fuckin' ow was a serious understatement. If I wasn't such a badass, I might've whimpered, but I kept my jaw clenched and we managed to get me straight. "Cool. Okay, okay. You got this, Price. Thanks, Max. Now, let's get outta here." Max wraps a hand around my side to help support me, and I lean on her more than I'd want to, but this was way worse than anything I'd done on my skateboard, so I kinda had to.

We walk very, very carefully and very, very slowly over to the door. Max pushes it open with her other hand and we head into the next room to see a photo of a huge and seriously detailed-looking cat-face in the wall. I peer closer at it and my mouth drops open. It's not a photo. It's... like Max's wall. Shit, what did she call it? Like, a mosaic? Loads of little photos of cats stuck together all seem to just... flow into a bigger cat. It's weird, but totally the coolest thing I've seen so far in this fucked up nightmare.

The eyes open and the huge cat face smiles. "Hello there. Welcome to the Gallery."

\--

AN1 - Aluminium. Damn Colonials. :)


End file.
